The trial balance does not agree and the difference has been put in a suspense account. How do you find and clear it?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Suspense is a temporary account, not a final balance
- Check totals and casting of day books and ledgers
- Look for one-sided entries, transposition errors and wrong amounts
- Uses tricks like dividing the difference by 9 or 2
- Passes rectification entries and documents them
Model answer
A suspense account only holds the difference temporarily; it should be cleared before the accounts are final. First I recheck the trial balance itself: every ledger balance carried correctly and on the right side, and totals added properly. Then I use clues in the amount. If the difference divides by 9, it often points to a transposition, like 5,940 entered as 5,490. If half the difference matches a balance, that balance may be on the wrong side. I then review day book totals and look for one-sided postings, which are more common in imported or manual entries. In modern software true imbalances are rare, so I also check opening balance mismatches and migration entries. Each error found gets a rectification entry with the suspense account on one side, with a clear narration, until the suspense balance is zero.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed medium round and get scored on every answer.
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